T-Mobile Charges You For Things You Don’t Buy

When I wrote about preacquired account marketing for Consumerist back in October, I never dreamed I would fall victim to the scam. I also never dreamed the company who screwed me would be T-Mobile, a company I have had a relationship with since February 11, 2004 (I checked), and from which I have always received excellent customer service.

But last month, my bill was $9.99 too high. I looked into the charge, which shows up as “41463GamerData_8668958697” on my bill, and spotted another $9.99 charge coming due on my next bill. I have no idea who Gamer-Data is, but I do know I have never had anything to do with them. The only way I could have incurred these charges is by not doing anything.

Which turned out to be the case.

At some point, Gamer-Data sent me a text message to which I did not respond. When I did not respond, T-Mobile decided that was good enough to pay Gamer-Data and then charge me $9.99 for its trouble. I do not have the message from Gamer-Data, but I do have one I received from Info-Text-Alert, to which this month’s $9.99 would have gone. Here it is:

Is that supposed to be some kind of contract? How in the world does my failure to respond to that message constitute my consent to be billed $9.99 by T-Mobile? The message does not even contain the amount of the charges unless you squint really hard at that comma in “9,99” and imagine a dollar sign somewhere nearby. The message has no warning that I will be charged if I do not respond, or what I should respond if I do not want to be charged.

If you want to know about the valuable information that Info-Text-Alert will deliver for your $9.99 per month, here is the only other message I received from it:

Info: Newcomer Kesha took her first solo chart single “TiK ToK” to the top of the Billboard Hot 100.

That message is hardly worth $9.99, even if I wanted it. It was also sent before the one above, which I assume was supposed to warn me about the charges.

This is a scam. The unfortunate part of the scam is that T-Mobile is in cahoots with Gamer-Data, Info-Text-Alert, and probably other text-message scammers. Just as bad, T-Mobile has apparently trained its customer service representatives to defend the practice. The CSR I spoke with insisted that T-Mobile “had” to pay Gamer-Data and Info-Text-Alert (both have websites—just add .com—obviously designed by the same person), but insisted that it was not T-Mobile that billed me for their services. Staring at the charges on my T-Mobile bills, I assured her she was mistaken. She insisted I did not understand how this works; that even though I never gave T-Mobile permission to pay anyone else on my behalf, they just had to do it.

I admit, I got mad. The CSR I spoke with remained impressively perky in the face of my anger. I am ashamed to admit I may have used words like “lawyer,” “blog,” and “preacquired account marketing” at various points during the call. The CSR’s perky lies had me sketching out a class action lawsuit on a nearby note card. She offered to credit my account for the charges, but I refused. I wanted the charges refunded immediately, or I wanted interest during the delay. In the end, she spoke to a supervisor and then agreed to an immediate refund (which is not a refund, but shows up as a credit to my T-Mobile account).

One might say that T-Mobile made this right in the end. I would not. This sort of thing is bullshit.

I should not have to yell at a CSR to have fraudulent charges removed from my bill; they should never have been there in the first place. And I should not be charged for not responding to a gibberish text message. If this was an isolated mistake, T-Mobile should immediately refund the charges, no questions asked. If not, I hope T-Mobile has to answer a very expensive lawsuit—or maybe a congressional inquiry.

As for me, I intend to leave T-Mobile as soon as my current contract ends in April, and I encourage you to do the same. At a minimum, start scrutinizing your bills and asking questions if you see any suspicious charges.

Sam Glover is a lawyer and the founder and Editor in Chief of Lawyerist.com. He also works with lawyers on motion practice and appeals, and is President of the board of directors of HOME Line, a nonprofit Minnesota tenant advocacy organization.